Char-less' Web of Terror
by Random Guise
Summary: Movieverse, 1973. The second of my two Halloween week postings; this one from "Charlotte's Web", where we play the 'evil sister' trope and scare Wilbur. I don't own any of E.B. White's characters, but I did grow up on a small farm.


**A/N: Short based on the 1973 animated movie "Charlotte's Web".**

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Char-less' Web of Terror

_Takes place starting the morning that Wilbur awakens to learn of who told him to 'Chin up'._

Wilbur awoke, and immediately began to look around to find the person that had spoken to him the previous night. He searched and searched around his pen for the source; looking into the hay, around the walls, and behind the water barrel all failed to produce the source. His question to the other animals nearby also failed to give him an answer except that it wasn't them.

Finally, a somewhat small voice spoke up. "If you want to see me, look up".

Wilbur looked up and noticed a spider's web in the corner of the entry into the barn. "Are you up there?" he asked.

"Of course I am. That's where you find spiders, in a web. Where do you think I'd be, riding around in a truck?"

"You sound different than last night when I was crying because I didn't want to die."

The spider coughed and resumed. "I had a little bit of a cold last night. I'm okay now." Off to the side and out of sight, Charlotte the spider, who had spoken to Wilbur the previous night lay wrapped up in webbing; her attempts to move or say anything were in vain as she was immobilized and muffled. Ambushed and trapped by her evil sister, she could only watch as her sibling took her place. "My name is Char-less."

"Char-less? What are you doing way up there?"

"All the better to have dinner, silly. Well, not the only place - we could be in the hay by your head at night too!" Char-less gave a little silent giggle. "We spiders live on blood."

Wilbur started to get a bit woozy.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry; does that upset you? Then I won't tell you about how I drain all the blood out of them, sucking in their life until they're a withered corpse. It's so refreshing to have fresh...oops, there I go again!" she said as Wilbur leaned against a post for support.

"Oh, you won't bite me will you?" Wilbur asked.

"No, of course not - as long as you're my friend. You want to be my friend, don't you?"

"Y-y-yes" Wilbur sputtered. "But I d-d-don't want to die!"

"Don't worry, I'll help you - since you're my friend."

"Thanks" Wilbur said, not too sure if it was the best decision on his part. But desperation told him to grab any opportunity he could and he had no concept of making a deal with the devil.

Just then the web wiggled as a fly became trapped within it. Char-less ran over and wrapped up the fly before starting to slurp. "Mmmm, that's good...oh, sorry Wilbur. You're going to have to toughen up, buttercup. Get a grip for goodness sake!" Wilbur was confused, because he wasn't a flower and he didn't have any hands to grip anything. But he knew that he was feeling a little queasy from all this talk of blood.

"Now the first thing I'm going to have to teach you is to take care of your sanitary business right inside the doorway here."

"But Zuckerman wants me to do it out here."

"Yes, but _I_ want you to do it over here where it will draw flies. You'll do that for me, won't you _friend_?"

"I...suppose" Wilbur agreed reluctantly.

"Good, I knew you would. Now let me think about how to help you."

"Thank you Char-less." Wilbur went about his day, but he wasn't entirely happy. The spider seemed so cheery last evening, but much less so now. However, Wilbur didn't have a great intellect and soon forgot about his misgivings. He hummed happily and started singing a song later in the day.

"Wilbur!"

The pig started at the voice, and then remembered the spider. "Yes?"

"Will you stop that infernal singing? I can't think while you're trying to carry a tune" Char-less scolded. "And you're not very good at it, either."

"But I like singing, it makes me happy."

"Maybe you'd be happier as a side of bacon if I can't think of a way to save you" the spider said crossly "so shut up."

Wilbur shivered and kept quiet.

Late that day Char-less called Wilbur over. "I have thought of a way to save you. We have to advertise what a wonderful pig you are."

"Aren't ad rates in leading newspapers cost prohibitive?" Wilbur asked.

"What did you just say?"

"I don't know; it was just some gibberish that came into my head. How are you going to do it?"

Char-less described to Wilbur that she needed some words so that she could put one in her web to get the attention of people. So they enlisted the help of Templeton the rat and before long he returned with a page of a magazine that he found in a garbage pile. "This will do nicely!" Char-less said as she scanned the page. Of course with her multiple eyes it would be hard to describe exactly what she saw but suffice it to say she was happy with the effort. That night while Wilbur slept she spun and tied and moved her web strands around.

The next morning Wilbur awoke to the laughter of Zuckerman. He pondered what was so funny, but the farmer left in a hurry. Char-less giggled too while Charlotte groaned, for just above where the pig stood there was a spiderweb with the word 'fresh' written in it. Soon the farmer had brought all the people he could to see the wonderful work of nature in the spider's web. Befuddled, Wilbur looked up and saw that the web looked different.

"What does it mean?" Wilbur asked Char-less.

"It means" she said, not trying to keep a straight face because Wilbur's eyesight wasn't that good so it wasn't worth the effort "that you are better than an average pig."

"Oh, I like that. Thank you" he said.

"You owe me one now. Tell you what, make a fresh deposit over here and I'll call it even."

Well, like anything new there came a time when the news cycle moved on and no one was interested in Wilbur anymore; in this case it was no more than two days. Wilbur began to worry but Char-less assured him that another round of promotion would do a world of good. Templeton was hired again and he complained like a worker asked to work a longer shift without overtime but brought back another sample - this one with a lot of words on it that could be used for many different webs.

Sure enough, the next morning the people flocked to see the new web that now proclaimed "Juicy".

"What does that word say?" Wilbur asked. It looked different than the last one.

"It says don't ask too many questions because I hear the Zuckermans like ham for Thanksgiving. Now that I'm thinking of it, spill some of your slop over here. I'm tired of flies and I think I might get some other tasty insects with food left out. Gnats aren't very big but if you suck on a whole bunch of them..."

Wilbur fainted.

After a few more attempts that saw 'All Natural', 'Tasty' and 'Organic' the next attempt resulted in the word 'bacon'. This sent the crowds into a frenzy so much so that Char-less thrilled with delight; she could actually see them drool as they stood staring at Wilbur.

Wilbur didn't like the turn this was taking. They had started out happy, but now the crowds were looking more like they were...hungry.

"Don't worry about it, Wilbur. I've made sure that the people are paying attention to you. Do you think just singing some stupid song could save your life?"

"What if I do a trick, like herd sheep or something?"

"Don't be an idiot - a pig can't herd sheep. Now go away, I've got to plan my next web...unless you like being stuck with sharp knives and carved into small pieces" she cackled.

Wilbur dashed under the hay pile until only his tail was visible.

That night Char-less took the next word and looked at it before starting. "I'm really tired of doing this, so I'm going to start early and do this last word and get to bed early" she admitted to Charlotte. She made quick work of the new word and went to bed early. It gave Charlotte extra time to struggle, and at dawn she was finally able to wiggle her thinned body out of its wrappings and slowly she crept up on the sleeping form of her sister. With a mighty shove she pushed her sister off the web, being sure to cut the strand coming from Char-less' spinneret. Char-less plunged downward and screamed as she fell into the open water barrel, where she sank to the bottom immediately with only a gurgle.

Wilbur woke up to the faint scream and splash, and looked around.

"Wilbur!" Charlotte called.

"Please, don't be mean" the pig said as he shrank back.

"This isn't Char-less. I'm Charlotte, her sister."

"Her sister? Where have you been and where is she?"

"It's a long story. Hurry, we have to remove...forget it, it's too late - here comes Zuckerman." And sure enough, the farmer was making his way to the pen as part of his morning rounds. He glanced at the web, and did a double take before staring at the sky for a moment. He dropped his bucket and ran to the house; soon the biggest crowd ever gathered around the pen. The reaction was the same for each; they would arrive with a smile and then wrinkle their faces in thought. A broader smile would soon be on their faces again and they would leave, no longer hurrying but happy none the less.

During a moment when no one was around, Wilbur asked Charlotte "Everyone seems to be happy, and they don't seem to be hungry anymore. That's a good thing, isn't it?"

"I think it is, Wilbur. I think you're safe now."

"That's good. What does the web say?"

Charlotte shook her head. "I don't know; spiders can't read!" she said as she surveyed the handiwork of her now late sister. Only one word graced the web:

_BLESSED_

"Whatever it says, I guess that'll do Wilbur; that'll do."

The End

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**A/N: I never saw the 'live action' remake, but I do remember the animated movie as well as my teacher reading a segment while I was in grammar school. I thought about it and wondered just what the consequences might be if other words were chosen. And no, I didn't turn Wilbur into a meal!**


End file.
